From Ranger To Rockstar: A Q&A With Johnny Yong Bosch

13 February 2014Last Updated on 13 February 2014Written by David Cantu0 Comments

I’ve been a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger fan for as far back as I can remember but as the show continued on and a few Power Rangers came and went there was one guy that I really started to admire. His name is Johnny Yong Bosch. His fighting style and quickness was what grabbed my attention and soon I began to study the fight scenes from the show and was engulfed in everything relating to martial arts. I followed the show until his departure from the the Power Rangers franchise in 1997 and after that it just didn’t seem the same anymore. Fast forward to 2012 and I got curious to see what some of the previous MMPR cast was up to and I was happy to see that Johnny had been continuing to work in the entertainment field and has a HUGE body of work on his resume along with being the frontman of the EdgeRock band Eyeshine. I was immediately intrigued. Time passed and I eventually decided to contact Johnny to see if he was up for a little chat and he was gracious enough to answer some questions regarding his work on MMPR and what he’s been up to nowadays. Enjoy!

CD: What made you want to initially get into acting? JYB: My desire to be an action star. Growing up watching Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan got me wanting to do what they were doing.

CD: How did you initially get cast in Power Rangers?JYB: I went to an audition in Texas and went through all the hoops that came along with that.

CD: Sometimes you’ll hear that in auditions they originally audition for a different character. Was that the case with you and Steve Cardenas or was it already decided that you were going to be Adam/The Black Ranger? JYB: I think I recall them bouncing us back and forth at the end of the process, I know I started out reading for Black then had a couple reads for Red but mostly for Black.

CD: When you, Steve and Karen joined the show was there any “weirdness” from the rest of the group in the beginning or were you all welcomed with open arms? JYB: Only the fact that we were the new guys, of course it was gonna be a little weird at first. They already knew each other and been through the ropes. There was obviously some of that “here come the freshmen” mentality.

CD: You all seemed like a family and I’ve heard some of the goofy stories that happened on set. Was there one person that you were closer to? JYB: I was closest with Jason Narvy and Jason Frank, like brothers to me. Karan, Catherine, Nakia and Steve were like great friends.

CD: Of course sometimes family gets on your nerves…haha. Any “arguments” on set at all? JYB: Sure, that happened often. we were young and naive.

CD: What was the weirdest thing a fan has either done or given you? JYB: Some things should be left unmentioned

CD: Is there one moment that stands out from your memories as a Power Ranger? JYB: Perhaps the moment I realized I had “made it”, at least as far as my ‘dream to be an action star’ was well on it’s way. Only ignorance and pride would get in the way at that point, and it did.

CD: Did you keep any momentos from MMPR? JYB: I have a couple things, the main thing is the communicator. They were annoying as heck to have on all the time, especially since they didn’t even tell time.

CD: I was a huge fan of your fight sequences on Power Rangers. They were so fast paced and intricate at times. Did you have any injuries while working on set? JYB: Not really but I did hyper extend my knee once. The alpha stunt team were pros and that was the most exciting part of my day.

CD: When you came back for episodes of Power Rangers: In Space and Overdrive did the cast look at you as “The Veteran”? JYB: I kinda went in thinking I was the “new guy” again but I did get a little of that “the veteran” treatment. It was a little bittersweet. The slight respect felt good but the responsibility part wasn’t what I signed up for. Everyone was great though. If the opportunity came up I’d work with any one of them again.

CD: In the past year or so I started to look into your body of work after Power Rangers and I was pleasantly surprised to see that your resume is pretty exstensive. You’ve done films as well as TONS of voice acting for Anime and video games. How did the voice acting come about? JYB: Purely by accident. the producer for Trigun heard me dub a film I did and asked me to audition. That’s how I was cast as Vash. That was the beginning.

CD: Have any advice for someone wanting to be a voice actor? JYB: Be an actor first

CD: I’m sure that doing repeated voice sessions can take a toll on your voice. Do you have any prep or vocal exercises that you do for your sessions? JYB: Nope.

CD: Is there a favorite character that you have voiced? JYB: You’re asking me to choose my favorite child.

CD: I recently saw Broken Path for the first time and immediately recommended it to friends as a great martial arts film. It almost has a “throwback” feel to action/martial arts films from the 80’s/early 90’s. Did you feel a bit more fullfilled to work on projects that were more “adult” than MMPR after you left? JYB: Absolutely, my dream was being an action star. It’s evolved a bit but being able to do a 90 minute film with 85 minutes of fighting was ridiculous but awesome.

CD: Besides being an actor and Professional Ass Kicker I see that you’re also the frontman for your band Eyeshine. How did that come about? Were you always into playing music? JYB: That kind’ve just happened. fell into a dark place at a certain point in my life and had everything falling apart around me. I started to learn the guitar as a last ditch effort and through it I was able to speak to God. I slowly started putting the pieces back together and found my priorities shifted. It wasn’t about me anymore.

CD: Being in a band usually means being on the road a lot (for the most part). Do you have any funny or crazy road stories? JYB: Just watch our youtube series, the Eyeshine Experience. We document most of it. (You can find that HERE)

CD: What are some bands or musicians that influence the sound of Eyeshine? JYB: There isn’t really a band or musician that specifically influences our sound. I like the Beatles but we certainly don’t sound like the Beatles. We like a variety of artists but most of the time I think it’s the emotion we’re feeling at the time of writing a song that influences the sound. Hope that makes sense.

CD: Everyone geeks out over something or someone. Have you ever met a musician or actor that you ever geeked out over?JYB: Not really, I geek out over recording gear.

CD: Not that long ago I saw that Eyeshine took a trip over to Japan. How did that go? I’ve always heard that the Japanese are very respectful and nice usually when it comes to entertainment. JYB: Let me just say we have never had a crowd more responsive than when we were in Japan.

CD: Any plans on coming back to Texas (particularly Houston) in the near future? JYB: Yes, so far we will be there twice this year. We may actually have another road tour through TX. Afterall, it is my home state.

CD: Any upcoming projects or events you’d like to talk about? JYB: Most of it I can’t talk about BUT my film Love Like Bullets will be available this year. Trailer will be up in a few weeks.

CD: We’ll definitely be looking for that! Thanks a lot for taking the time out and talking with us today. We appreciate it and look forward to seeing what else you may have in store.

Here’s some of Johnny Yong Bosch’s upcoming appearences:

For those wanting to hear some Eyeshine I embedded a playlist of all of their music videos down below which you can check out:

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 13th, 2014 at 10:04 am and is filed under Spotlight, TV.
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